On February 22, 2001, Judge John Dietz of the 53rd District Court, Travis County, Texas, issued orders of receivership over the assets of
and Trans-Global Asset Management, Inc. in connection with cause number GV 100254, State Of Texas v. Brian Russell Stearns, et al. Earlier this year, Mr. Stearns was convicted of 80 counts of fraud related conduct in United States District Court-Austin Division. The receivership action was brought by the Texas Attorney General pursuant to the provisions of the Texas Securities Act at the request of the Texas Securities Board. The purpose of the receivership is to locate and obtain assets for equitable distribution to defrauded investors.
On February 22, 2001,
Hollis Larenzo Maxfield pled guilty to Wirefraud, count 75 of an indictment, in the United States District Court for the Northern District Of Texas--Dallas Division, in cause number 3-00: CR-389-L(4). In connection with his guilty plea, Mr. Maxfield admitted that he, along with co-conspirators, through companies called Progessive Financial Services & Group, Inc., and Futurenomics International, Ltd., fraudulently obtained funds from investors throughout the United States and Puerto Rico. Mr. Maxfield admitted that the funds were invested into non-existent "high yield " programs and were diverted and misapplied. Additionally, Mr. Maxfield admitted that returns paid to investors as profits were, in fact, other investor funds. The stipulated loss was between $2.5 million and $5 million. The matter was prosecuted and investigated by the Securities Fraud Task Force for the Northern District Of Texas, which includes the cooperative efforts of the FBI, Office Of The United States Attorney and the Texas State Securities Board, as well as investigated by the Memphis Office of the FBI.
On February 12, 2001 before Judge Bert Richardson of the 379th Criminal District Court of Bexar County, Texas,
Bradley J. Farley entered a no contest plea to Misapplication of Fiduciary Property and selling unregistered securities in cause number 2000-CR-3149. The case stemmed from the sale of interests in a program known as ABBA Funding, which was an alleged certificate of deposit related fraud. Sentencing will occur in approximately 90 days. The case resulted from an investigation conducted by the Texas Securities Board and the Bexar County District Attorneys Office. In addition to the criminal action, a receivership and injunctive action was filed at the request of the Texas Securities Commissioner through the Office of the Texas Attorney General. That matter is pending in the 166th Judicial District Court, Bexar County, Texas, Cause Number 2000-CI-02173.